


The Moment in Which I Found You in Venus

by BabyChocoboAlchemist



Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Ignis Squad 2017, M/M, Prompto Protection Squad 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-10 06:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10431447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyChocoboAlchemist/pseuds/BabyChocoboAlchemist
Summary: Zell Dincht/Prompto Argentum, Rinoa Heartilly/Ignis Scientia. Chapter 13 set in a Final Fantasy VIII crossover. Two worlds have come together to defeat the darkest threats imaginable, forming an unbreakable family. In the wake of unimaginable pain and loss, two worlds become one as bonds are strengthened. Rinoa provides much-needed comfort to Ignis, while Noctis and Zell bring Prompto out of the darkness.The bond between a young woman and a master chef is strengthened in the Balamb Hotel, while the bond between a brawler and a photographer experiences the same magic.





	1. The Shores of Venus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ischemia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ischemia/gifts).



She wanted to help him remember. Wanted to help him remember what life felt like, how cool and wonderful it was when splashed against one’s face in the heat of Summer. How soft its rhythm could be when the world was falling asleep, meeting the evening hours. 

In the wake of Winter’s desolation, only splintered threads of magic remained-and she was determined to catch them all. Determined to give them all to him. He was in immediate danger of losing what it meant to be alive, what it meant to inhale and exhale the wonders of the seasons as the hours painted the world in memories. 

The trials he had gone through, the darkness he was barely able to survive, took priority over her own wounds. Traveling through a void was nothing but a dream, a fleeting memory riding on a breeze. Her focus was on the ones around her, the ones desperately seeking solace after the day’s nightmare. She managed to break out of her nightmare quickly anyway. The others needed to come up for air far more than she did. She was at least able to taste the sky every now and then, catching glimpses of an oncoming Summer. Her friends, her soulmates, were trapped in a blizzard that promised to never end.

She lit candles as the minutes unfolded, much slower and far more patient than they were earlier. Ocean breezes and cedarwood gently painted their room in a much-needed glow, rekindling the luminescence of lost seasons. Her mind traveled over the nightmares that had just fled, as the sounds of the ocean filled their little home, reminding her to remain calm. After all-

All nightmares had an end. Winter had an end too, and at the end of every winter, the sun rose.

She lit one more candle and sat beside him, taking her place in a chair beside his bed. Ocean breezes continued to pour into their much-needed quiet, blessed by the evening calm. At one point she believed calm would never return. How could she, while she and her friends were trapped in a battle against Sorceress Edea? Ardyn? Two of the worst demons to ever fly out of Hell? At least Seifer wasn’t that big of a threat. He was the one responsible for stealing her chocobo, their chocobo, but a particularly livid big brother knocked him flat in a matter of seconds.

She couldn’t help but smile as the ocean winds combed her hair. Squall didn’t say too much while taking his rival down. He never did. But on that particularly turbulent occasion, not too many words were needed. The look on his face couldn’t have been bought. And no one could blame him. After all, Sorceress Edea’s brave, wondrous knight had stolen his brother. ‘Don’t expect to live much longer if you screw with him again,’ was the longest sentence Squall threw at him, wearing a look that had the young woman in tears of joy. Barely coming out of Edea’s spell, no one expected her to exude such high spirits, but remaining silent was impossible in the face of such valor. Such dedication for the one they all fought to rescue.

Prompto.

The nightmare felt as though it happened an eon ago. All within the blink of an eye the rainclouds swept over them, rendering them helpless. Edea said something about the young woman being ‘the perfect host for my grand reign’. Storms swept through Balamb Garden’s halls, forcing the members of SEEDs to their feet and onto the battlefield-which was were his eyes were taken.

Ignis. Damn it all. Ignis.

Seifer was nowhere to be seen in the thick of it all. She had seen him chatting with Noctis’ ex-friend before, and like the rest of her family, she deemed him harmless. Annoying, yes, but in the end harmless. Had to be the dumbest assumption that would ever be known to history, believing Ardyn to be even remotely harmless, as they quickly found out. He was harmless all right-harmless towards Edea, Seifer and Ultimecia, working in an alliance with them to form a new world order. An order she and her little brother, Prompto, were meant to be at the helm of. Edea believed her to be-

Ah. Didn’t matter. What mattered was her little brother. Their radiant, pure-hearted photographer lying in a chasm of dreams. The chef lying in an abyss of dreams next to her, face framed in the calm of evening. 

Her mind ran over the basics. Details didn’t matter. Apparently Prompto was also meant to be a vessel of some sort, having been created by ‘unnatural’ means, born to be something much greater than what they knew him to be. At least that’s what the paragons of night told her and her family. And recollections would end there. The sickening, twisted venom cast at her little brother wasn’t at all important. Whatever Ardyn said didn’t matter, whatever Edea believed Prompto to be didn’t matter, whatever garbage Seifer threw out about their chocobo-loving beam of sunshine didn’t matter. None of it did. All that mattered was there they were, waiting for him to awaken in the calm of evening. Selphie, Gladiolus and Quistis were putting their heads together, stirring up ways to avenge the loss that had been inflicted on them, while Squall was channeling his fury into his sword meditations, but Noctis and Zell were there. Just as she was beside him.

Ignis.

She looked at him, his face framed by the evening’s surrender, darkened by the lesions of earlier hours. It was astounding how his face could still remind her of how daybreak kissed the clouds. A part of her longed for him to awaken, but she knew sleep had charted him a billion miles away. After the chaos that had taken his eyes from him, after the storm that had whisked his little brother away, he deserved to go on drifting. Needed to go on drifting atop ocean breezes. 

An arrow shot through her once little moans trickled into her ears. She sprang to her feet and caressed the silhouette of his face, just as gentle as the evening winds. Resting her forehead against his, hands framing his face, she whispered messages that calmed him. “I’m here,” she reminded him. Strands of her black hair painted his chest. The words melted into him, assured him he was safe.  
“It’s okay. I’m here. I won’t let anyone else hurt you. I’m here.”

His voice was a faint enigma. He was exhausted, yes, exhausted beyond words-but the unfolding minutes refused to reveal any other mysteries to her. “Shouldn’t you be resting, Miss Heartilly?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” she giggled, the sound masking her thoughts, the images flooding her mind. The possibilities. What Ignis must’ve been feeling as his sight was taken from him, while he was defending Balamb students. Noctis. Weeping, frantic, Noctis, shrieking over how he couldn’t find Prompto. Sobbing over Ignis no longer being able to see him. Gladiolus being as still as stone. Selphie. Losing their little brother. Prompto.

Ignis.

Shiva damn it all to Hell.

She took her place beside him, sitting back into the chair. “Don’t worry about me. I bounce back easily. Let’s talk about you,” she said, settling a hand on his leg, desperately hoping none of the images flowing through her mind were woven into her voice. 

“Want anything to eat or drink? You’ve been asleep a really long time, Sleeping Beauty. I was about to wake you up with a kiss.”

A joke, but not really a joke. Followed by an answer so short, it sent a volley of arrows through her.

“No thank you.”

Silence unfolded for much too long. He began to search for something, left hand moving closer to her. She watched it, heart racing quicker than the winds blew, wondering where the silence would lead her, wondering if the silence would end before her heart burst. It ended once-

He gripped her hand.

“The others?”

“They’re fine,” she replied instantly, then kissed every one of his fingers. Her lips lingered on the last finger, and he made absolutely no   
motion to tear himself away from her. She soon returned his hand to his thigh, her fingers intertwined in his.

“As fine as can be, anyway. Noct’s with our baby chocobo. So is Zell. Zell’s got the biggest crush on him, so you know Prompto’s in good hands. Gladiolus, Irvine and Selphie are taking a walk, coming up with ways to rip off a few heads. Squall’s doing the usual, imagining Ardyn’s head at the end of his Gunblade.”

She couldn’t help but giggle. “It’s no wonder you get along with him so well. It’s hard to tell which one of you is weirder.”

They sat in silence, earth and ocean breezes brushing against their unfolding minutes. Ignis broke the silence, hidden eyes falling into the unfolding waves, lost in a world far away from her own. “You don’t have to stay beside me,” he told her, soft yet urgent. She squeezed his hand, eyes void of humor but radiant with valor. Piercing him with fire he could see. “I want to,” she replied.

“Why?”

“Because I want you to remember,” she whispered after pressing her lips against his, her small form melting into his as evening breezes combed through her hair.  
\----------------------  
“It’s about time you woke up, little brother. Thought we’d turn old and gray before we’d ever hear your voice again.”

Eyes fluttered against the evening’s gentle light. A spirit almost broken slowly returned to the present, lifted out of darkness and into the arms of those around him. His body felt like lead as he attempted to sit up, rubbing his eyes, soon assisted by one of the two young men in the room.

Noctis. It was Noctis, his big brother, one of the soulmates he had fallen so deeply in love with. “Don’t rush into anything,” the young swordsman urged him, hands about the other’s arms. A smile made of the purest moon melted into the photographer’s battered soul, reminding him he was safe, surrounded by peace. 

“We’ve got you. We should kill you for making us worry so much, but we’ve got you.”

It took no time at all for Zell to awaken. Eyes ablaze with alarm, he took an instant assessment of the scene and swept Prompto’s upper half into his arms. “Thought you’d never wake up,” he confessed, breathless, heart racing beyond the moon. His forehead brushed against the photographer’s, both sets of cheeks crimson but Zell unwilling to let go. Not after everything that had happened.

“Man, you’ve been out forever! You okay? Need anything? Whatever it is, you just let me know! I don’t care what it is, how far it is or how hard it is to get it-you just lemme know and it’s yours! Got it?”

It was at that moment their photographer, their beaming, warm chocobo, began to weep. Face in the palms of his hands, Prompto wept, shook even after he should’ve have fallen onto the floor in tear-stained pieces. The transition from cold, onyx hell to ocean-kissed love was disorienting. Something difficult to accept, almost impossible to accept, as he could still feel the chains. The blades cutting into him. Voices melted into one along with the ocean caresses pouring through the window, one voice vowing vengeance, the other assuring him they were there, would always be there, nothing else would ever harm him. “Fucking Hell, man,” the one voice snarled, words determined by Prompto once his mind emerged from a tearful fog.

“The moment I see any of them again, they’re toast! Better believe it, pal, they’re goin’ down!”

“Better let Squall know,” Noctis chuckled, fondness taking a stand against the night’s unfolding pain. Squall may have been much quieter than Zell-Hell, he may have been even quieter than Ignis-but they were definitely on the same page. Happy to see such devotion directed at their gunslinger, he couldn’t keep himself from running a hand through Zell’s hair. “Anyways, I don’t know if there’s gonna be anything left over for either of you once I’m done with the bastards. Just sayin’.”

“Is Ignis okay?” 

“Yeah,” Noctis replied, after exchanging a pensive, solemn glance with Zell. Memories of the recent past cut through him as though he weren’t anything but butter. “He’s fine,” he added with a smile, trying to mask the hurt, the frustration, the images swelling in his mind. “Always gonna be fine. We’ve got him too. Rin’s with him, so no worries, little brother.”

“You don’t have to stay with me, Noct,” Prompto urged, eyes piercing his brother’s soul with strength far greater than that of any blade. “Neither of you do,” he added, trying to mask far too many wounds with another one of his smiles. A smile stained by tears.

“Iggy needs you way more than I do, buddy. I’m gonna be okay, I promise!”

Noctis’ tone was quiet but wasn’t anywhere near gentle. Not even remotely gentle. “Meaning you aren’t okay now. Which we know you aren’t, so we’re staying right here. Besides, Specs wants me to. If I even thought of stepping into his room he’d kill me. He wants me to look after our baby brother, so that’s what I’m here to do.”

He rose to his feet, candlelight framing the smile made of fragile memories. “I am gonna head out for a second though,” he chuckled, the sound masking the images incinerating him on the inside. “Just for a second, so don’t think you’re getting rid of me. Heading down to the lobby to pick up goodies from the dining area. Sure you could use something, little brother. After all, you’ve been asleep for a thousand years.”

After pressing his lips against the photographer’s forehead, the young swordsman vanished into the night’s ocean-kissed tenderness. Gunslinger and brawler were left alone. Ocean winds colored the silence that unfolded between them, then lit up with erupting valor. “You’re gonna be okay,” Squall’s classmate assured him, eyes burning into Prompto’s soul like iron. 

“Don’t worry about anything, okay? All you’ve gotta do is wake up every mornin’. We’ve got everything else! Leave those creeps behind this to us!”

Evening minutes blessed by the ocean filled their tense corner of their world, weighing it down with memories and unspoken truth. Prompto’s eyes, wide, tearful, filled with shock, were lodged onto eyes radiant with fire. Neither of them dared to speak, hearts pounding in their ears, but then-

“Um, Zell?”

“Yeah, whaddya want?! Whatever you need, just lemme know!”

Prompto gave him a look that lit an inferno within the pit of his stomach. 

“You’re, um…you’re holding my hand.”

“Y-y-yeah, s-s-so?! I’m t-t-tryin’ to comfort you here, okay?!”

“You don’t hafta get mad,” came the tear-stained whimper, accompanied by a bowed head. He squeezed the hand enveloped in his.

“I don’t mind. It…it feels really, really nice.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. So would you mind holding my hand a little longer? Just for a few more minutes?”

“Dummy,” Zell scoffed, giving Prompto’s hand a tight squeeze. His voice was much softer, warmer, filled with memories and the light of new discoveries.

“I told you not to worry about anything! Remember-we’ve got this. And I’ve got you! Okay?”

“Okay,” was the last word the photographer spoke. And it was upon ocean-kissed breezes he fell into a world of dreams, dreaming of familiar faces, beloved faces, faces that healed him, loved him-

All the while holding Zell’s hand.

_“I promise to plant kisses like seeds on your body, so in time you can grow to love yourself as I love you.” -Tyler Knott Gregson_


	2. Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squall and friends work on their next moves, while Rinoa and Zell protect the ones that barely emerged from a brutal nightmare. 
> 
> The Balamb Hotel is the perfect host on a quiet, tense night, allowing all hearts to breathe in some much-needed strength-all the while gathering courage.

“Find my hand in the darkness, and if we cannot find the light, we will make our own.” -Tyler Knott Gregson  


Squall eyed the ones that made getting out of bed worth it, an enigmatic wraith of determination underneath a serene moon’s sky.

“Zell’s not leaving The Sunshine Kid. Ifrit could roast him and he’d still be by Prompto’s side. And Rin’s not leaving Mr.Perfection. So it’s just us.”

Fortitude stormed their eyes as the moonlit hours unfolded, each moment touched by the evening waters. Waves broke against Balamb’s shores as they were rooted underneath the moon, united by memories in the Balamb Hotel’s lobby. Sleep evaded them as memories barreled through their minds, each reconstructed moment no different from an earthquake, urging them to strike back. 

Not wanting to be too far away from Ignis or Prompto, Squall, Noctis, Selphie, Irvine and Gladiolus agreed to meet in the lobby. Zell had always sheltered fierce protective instincts towards Prompto, and the same could easily be said of Rinoa, but after everything that had occurred, no creature would survive their wrath if a hair was plucked from Ignis’ or Prompto’s head. Knowing the young sorceress and brawler were ready to boil certain demons alive, their friends found much-needed rest, but they still wished to remain close in case any more chaos thought of staining the night’s hours. With the hotel staff’s support, the little group gathered their hearts, spirits and recollections in the lobby, determined to map their way to vengeance. Victory was of equal importance.

Whenever Noctis wasn’t next to Ignis, he could be found next to the one referred to as his partner-in-crime, Squall. Seeing the young swordsman standing next to either one of them was a casual detail, one previously noted with merry indifference, but a certain chef’s absence left gashes in their spirits. Torn from his lifelong friend, mentor and confidant, Noctis was forced to draw solace from Squall. “Shouldn’t take too long to go over what needs to be done,” he put in, constantly preceding or finishing the Leonhart’s thoughts. Just like his counterpart, Noctis fought to hide the thoughts that tortured him, but they were all there. Fury, frustration, Ignis, Prompto-it was all there, etched into every inch of his face. “It’s simple, really,” he added, seemingly calm, face glazed over in deceptive silence. And with his next remark, he mimicked the hero he loved, one of the two men he was ready to avenge with his life.

“Just like coming up with a new recipeh. All we’ve gotta do is track down our pals and let ‘em have it.”

Gladiolus stepped in, sitting in between a grim-faced Kinneas and a restless Selphie. “Not to sound too much like Specs, little brother, but I think we’d better remember what we’re up against,” he urged, his voice a breeze against the night’s quiet storm. Noting the young woman’s distress, knowing a distressed Iris would never be alone, he gripped Selphie’s hand. All eyes were locked on him as he spoke, a low rumble of formidable strength.

“We’ve got to make sure we head back into the game with some sort of gameplan. Especially since Ardyn used to be a pal of yours.”

“Right,” the swordsman sighed, running a hand over his face. The hours grew longer, but at the same time, it felt as though the night wasn’t moving at all. It was determined to keep them trapped in a nightmare they’d give anything to erase. “The prick that fucked with my baby brother,” he snarled, heavy venom inserted into a particularly venomous word. A curse he rarely ever used. 

“No need to remind me, big bear, and no need to bring him up-he’s gonna be the first to go down. Slowly and surely.”

Irvine, hat held in his hands as a show of respect, spoke next. “Gonna have plenty of help in that department, my friend,” the gunner assured Noctis, void of his usual cheer, radiant with devotion underneath the silent, hidden sky. What had happened to Ignis was horrific enough, Mr. Perfection being someone Irvine admired beyond words, but when it came to Prompto, he’d tear the galaxy apart with his bare hands. Not a speck in the galaxy would be left untouched in avenging a certain photographer. “Zell and I are gonna be right there with you,” he went on, acknowledging the brawler’s feelings for their chocobo without contempt or envy. “You can be sure of that, just as the sun meets the sky every damn morning. The moment we set our eyes on that son of a bitch again, he’s dust.”

“But Gladio’s right,” Selphie piped in, squeezing the gladiator’s hand, giving him a fragile smile as she did. “We’ve gotta go over why all of that happened in the first place, and if you ask me, it looks like this Edea lady’s behind everything. She turned Rinoa into a mini Edea and said she wanted to use Prompto to create some sort of super army! She dragged Seifer into everything, poor, stupid Seifer, and had him capture Prompto-which gave Ardyn and Edea the window they needed to do their dirty work!”

Prompto’s past struck them like knives to the heart, causing them to grimace all at once. Sensing none of her friends had the strength to pick up where she left off, ignoring the urge to surrender to tears, Selphie went on: “She wants to build an army to get into Ultimecia’s good graces, and together they’re gonna take over everything! Look at what happened back at school,” she panted, tears threatening to swallow her alive, the memory of Ignis pacing through the Garden’s cafeteria haunting her. Memories of a certain chef defending her fellow students tearing through her.

“If this Edea chick gets her way, things are gonna be way worse! So instead of flying back into battle, we’ve gotta make sure we understand what we’re gonna take down, because those guys aren’t playing around!”

“And Ardyn’s having his fun because of me,” Ignis’ lifelong pupil snarled, forehead in the palm of his hand. No longer concealing the fire that burned within, his face was ablaze with emotions and recollections. All eyes fell on him and remained on him while he spoke, each set radiant with concern and affection.

“That piece of shit only got in on Edea’s plan because of me. He’s after my family’s sacred power and thought using Prompto would be a great way to bring it out of me. And apparently he thought it would be a blast to drag Ignis into everything, too.”

Irvine settled a hand on Noctis’ head. “Not the time to make everything about you, mate,” he chuckled, exhausted yet exuding affection that could move mountains. “We’ll go back to it being all about you later. For now, we’ve got to abide by the princess and the bear’s wishes. Time to map out our next move.”

“Thought it would be nice to hit up Lady Lunafreya,” Gladiolus stepped in, casting immense gratitude at the gunner. “As we’ve noticed, she’s on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to sorceresses. Knows a shit ton of things, too. She’ll be able to give us the low-down on our friends. Cor will give us a few pointers too, being the stud he is. And once we figure out the field, we’ll be able to dominate it.”

“She’s at some place called Fisherman’s Horizon,” Noctis sighed, eyes shut, heart thrashing, pulling strength from memories of the warm, ethereal sorceress. Thinking of the journey she had embarked on, a pilgrimage to draw strength and wisdom from the battered land. “Cor’s with her, so we’re good to go. Apparently she’s picking up some major vibes there. Something about a Guardian Force. Shouldn’t we pick up Quistis before heading out, though? She’s not gonna stay behind at the Garden, right?”

“Are you kiddin’ me?” Selphie shrieked, the magnitude of her shock enough to surprise Gladiolus. “After what those bastards did to Iggy and baby birdy Prompto?! No way! She’d rather die than stay behind! She’s just gotta make sure everything’s okay at the Garden!”

Squall, hand settled on Noctis’ back, spoke as though they were discussing lunch options. “So it’s settled, then? We get whatever sleep we can, see how Princess Perfection and Sunshine feel in the morning, and take it from there?”

“Either that or we fly off in the middle of the night and skin those pricks alive,” Irvine nodded. “But even though I’m burnin’ to take those beasts apart, especially ol’ Ardy, we should pay a visit to the Lady Luna. If we do, we’ll be able to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. And we sure as Hell don’t want none of ‘em runnin’ things.”

“But that leads us to another bump in the road,” Selphie declared, head bowed, heart a billion times heavier than her head. “What if Ignis and Prompto aren’t feeling up to snuff tomorrow? How can we expect them to, after everything that went down? I don’t wanna abandon ‘em, but-“

“We won’t,” Noctis cut in.

Not another word was said the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn’t going to continue, but then a reviewer cut through the darkness of my everyday life with a knife. Thus, the continuation of this adventure was born. Like a nerd I’ve already got the entire thing mapped out in my head, a lot of imagined while I’m at work, so all that remains is for me to put it down here. Life doesn’t really permit a lot of sense, but I’ll work on this whenever I can.
> 
> In this verse, Noctis isn’t a prince and Lunafreya isn’t an oracle. Noctis and his brothers are reincarnations of their past selves, given new lives and destinies by Noct’s father Regis. Lunafreya’s the Good Witch to Edea’s Bad Witch, both sorceresses and Rinoa’s a mini-sorceress, which leads Rinoa into seeing Luna as a kindred spirit. A sister. Noctis still carries holy power from his lineage, which Director Ardyn is relentless after. Ardyn befriended young Noct just to get close to him, in the hopes of stealing his power once it matured. 
> 
> Prompto was originally shipped with Rinoa, but then I remembered a comment Robbie Daymond made about him being similar to other Final Fantasy characters, and boom. I thought pairing him with someone of a similar nature would be adorable. I’m writing their relationship as the relationship between a gruff, passionate, protective hero and the cuddly anime heroine. 
> 
> As for Rinoa, she starts off intensely infatuated with Ignis but doesn’t go overboard with it. She’s chivalrous and considerate towards him, asking him questions like ‘are you okay’ and ‘do you need anything’ while everyone else expects him to be perfectly fine. She opens doors for him and protects him in battle. Kneels and kisses his hand in a cute team attack. Ignis, of course, frowns on a lady protecting him, but Rinoa ignores him. Over time her feelings mature into much stronger ones, all the while carrying the flames of ardent infatuation.
> 
> Noctis isn’t a prince and Ignis isn’t his advisor, but Ignis is still his lifelong babysitter. He and Noctis grew a powerful friendship without starting off in separate worlds, growing into elementary school classmates, classmates at Balamb Garden, and then Noctis ending up as Ignis’ student at Balamb Garden.
> 
> Noctis and Squall are each other’s shadow. They constantly finish each other’s sentences and complement each other in a wide variety of ways, rarely ever opposing each other’s opinions. They speak without using words quite often, in and out of battle. 
> 
> Gladiolus and Iris are along for the ride, of course, the latter going to pop up with Lunafreya and Cor. Gladiolus is Selphie’s buddy, her shield just as much as Noct’s shield. And he doesn’t say anything about leaving Ignis behind in this verse, so there. 
> 
> As you can tell, I’m a huge nerd about this stuff. But it’s what keeps me going.
> 
> Thanks for being here.


	3. The Sleeping Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He deserves better, Sel. Prompto’s _incredible,_ and needs someone incredible to take care of him. I mean, look at everything that’s happened. Look at everything that happened _before!_ I wasn’t there and I wasn’t there for his brother.”
> 
> The calm of Fisherman’s Horizon leaves Zell in a whirlpool of thoughts, all of which he shares with Selphie-and accidentally spills to someone else.

Selphie strolled up to him, eyes forever warm and kind as she did so.

“What are you up to out here, champ?”

Zell sighed while returning his attention to the waters that surrounded them. His hands were on the rails, but he felt as though there wasn’t anything holding him up, leaving him vulnerable to fall into the waters of Fisherman’s Horizon at any given moment. Their corner of the universe was familiar, a place both of them could call home, but at the same time Ma Dincht’s boy could’ve sworn they were standing on the edge of another galaxy. Trapped in a dimension in which nothing was familiar, nothing made sense and everything conspired to create havoc. It wasn’t too far-fetched of an idea, considering the events that had led them there.

He mentally scrambled for a response while reflecting on how the waves of time had unfolded. They stood underneath a pre-dawn sky, one warning them of the waning silence only night could bring, but the earier chaos’ magnitude rang in their ears. The wounds of the earlier hours were still felt, as though certain nightmares had barely crept out of hiding a few seconds ago. The world was currently asleep, allowing them to catch their breath, but they knew the relief would not last long. 

They had just seen Noctis’ childhood friend, Lady Lunafreya. Always accompanied by another one of Noctis’ lifelong friends, Cor, the young sorceress gave them light that rebelled against staggering darkness. From her they discovered Noctis and his brothers were lifted out of one world and sent to many others, destined to live prosperous lives far away from the kingdom that had fallen. The young swordsman and his soulmates were sent to Balamb Garden to unite with Squall’s company against the darkest threats their world would ever know. And in the midst of all that chaos stood Prompto.

Prompto. 

He grimaced while gripping the rails harder. Rinoa’s kindred spirit had just told them Prompto bore similar scars in his first life, created to be something horrific but blossoming into something unbelievably beautiful. It happened again, him being violated by one of the underworld’s darkest demons for what he was supposed to be. Biting into his bottom lip so harshly it was almost torn in half, Zell cursed himself for not being there. For not being there the first time, and for not being there when he and Prompto shared the same sky, the same earth, the same damn universe. Twice he managed to fail his classmate, right when the unbelievably pure, warm, cheerful photographer needed him the most.

Then there was Ignis. Apparently, Ignis had been saddled with the same storyline as well, given to him in one world and laid on his shoulders in the next. A few things were different, with the master chef losing his sight while defending Balamb Garden as Professor Scientia, but the end result was the same. There must’ve been something to it, a challenge to break Noctis and friends out of the fates they met before. Zell was ready to give anything to change all that happened, life included, willing to wrench his heart out with a toothpick if that would heal Prompto and Ignis. “Thinking about how much of a loser I am,” the brawler snarled, all venom directed at himself while the night drew on serenely.

“I’ve got the nerve to call myself Prompto’s and the professor’s friend, but I couldn’t keep either one of ‘em safe. Professor Scientia’s way past cool and Prompto means everything to me. They both do. The prof in a completely different way, but you know what I mean. Anyways, I couldn’t do a damn thing for them back there. They needed me and I let ‘em down.”

He bowed his head, heart heavier than the moon. “Maybe Seifer’s right. Maybe I really am nothing but a Chickenwuss.”

“Not from where I’m standing,” Selphie retaliated, standing tall against the pre-dawn, water-kissed winds. The young woman stood with hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on her heels, glowing with light the world always found comforting. “You’ve been nothing but a tower of strength ever since this journey started! And you’ve only grown even stronger, buddy. Think about it. The Zell that helped us rescue little brother was completely different from the Zell that first became a SEED! From the Zell that did nothing but hang around the cafeteria all day, waiting for hot dogs, or picking fights with Seifer!”

She poked the bridge of his nose, smiling despite feeling weary enough to sleep for a thousand years. “Face it-you’ve grown into a pretty incredible guy,” she giggled. “You know you have. If Ma Dincht could see you right now, she’d see someone even greater than the little Zell she saw just a few weeks ago. She’d see someone with a purpose. Someone that’s madly in love with an adorable, beautiful little chocobo we all call Prompto.”

Her face darkened, the light within her eyes dampened by restlessness. “You know, you’d make him feel a LOT better if you told him.”  


Horror split through Zell’s eyes. “Told him? Told him _what?”_

Her smile penetrated his soul like an arrow. “You know what I’m talking about.”

He backed away from her, heartbeat ringing in his ears. “What, were you hit in the head by Sorceress Edea too many times? I can’t tell him! Sure the hell can’t tell him right now! Face it, sis, you’d have better luck asking Squall to confess his undying love to Noct.”  


Selphie shot back at him, her voice as quiet as the Horizon’s waves, all warm cheer gone. “Zell, nothing would make baby bird feel better than you telling him how you feel. If you were beaten up and captured by the evil, horrible dragon, wouldn’t you want your knight in shining to sweep you off your feel and tell you ‘I love you’?”

“Yeah, which is why I should probably let Irvine beat me to the punch. ‘Sides, I’ve thought about it. Thought about telling him a billion times, but every time I wanted to, something always cut me off. Maybe I wasn’t meant to tell him. Maybe I’m _still_ not meant to tell him.”

Zell faced the young woman, eyes alive with fear. “He deserves better, Sel. Prompto’s _incredible,_ and needs someone incredible to take care of him. I mean, look at everything that’s happened. Look at everything that happened _before!_ I wasn’t there and I wasn’t there for his brother. And what if he turned me down? He’d have every right to, but I couldn’t deal with it. Couldn’t deal with having the truth shoved right in my face. I love ‘im, love ‘im t’ death, which is why being turned down would _kill_ me. And that’s not something I’d be able to handle. I’m not the way Rinoa is with the professor. I’m sure the hell nothin’ like Squall.”

“Do I _really_ make it that hard for you to talk to me?”

They looked to the conversation’s newest entrant at the same time, Selphie’s face lighting up like a firefly, Zell’s face turning white as Shiva’s breath.

There he was, the chocobo named Prompto, standing no more than a few feet away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn’t going to add any more to this project, with the storyline being blown way beyond my work schedule and outside life, but the latest feedback for this adventure inspired me to write this chapter after a painfully long work week (yes, Friday for me is Monday). I couldn’t let down someone that had fallen in love with the idea of a XV/VIII crossover, so here’s another piece.
> 
> This takes place a day after the preceding chapter, set in Fisherman’s Horizon (beautiful theme music and all). Squall and his extended family made haste to Lady Lunafreya (who lives in this verse), seeking her counsel on how to proceed into the future. With me being heavily inspired by the Sailor Moon series, she tells them that Noctis and his brothers are reincarnations of their ‘first selves’, having died in their original world but given new chances to follow their destinies in new worlds. 
> 
> Since this storyline has been blown way out of line with my schedule, I’ll share the major plot points that follow this chapter. Ignis volunteers to stay behind but Rinoa vehemently refuses to let him fall behind, swearing to be his eyes and unwilling to ‘let you feel sorry for yourself while your brothers are out there fighting’, throwing Prompto into the mix as the coup de grace. 
> 
> The extended Sailor Scout family pick up Quistis from a war-torn Balamb Garden. After tearfully reuniting with Prompto and Professor Scientia, she tells them of a previously-unknown Guardian Force that has awakened. Noctis recognizes the Guardian Force as his father from her description, saying only one word after she explains everything: ‘Dad’.
> 
> Prompto asks Zell to hug him, pleading with the brawler to put him back together, feeling completely and utterly violated by Ardyn. Fighting against every bone in his body, Zell refuses, to which Prompto responds with ‘please don’t be afraid of me, I need you’. Zell assures him he’d never be afraid of him, and doesn’t want to tie him down to someone that can’t take care of him. A sobbing Prompto tells him ‘I can’t go another day without you’.
> 
> Gladiolus, all the while exchanging flirty smiles with Quistis, looks out for his brothers with infinite devotion (there never being a divide between himself and Ignis). He becomes Ignis’ second set of doting eyes along with Rinoa’s dog, whenever she can’t be around him. Squall gives Ignis a charm off his Gunblade, doing nothing more than pressing it into the palm of his hand, remaining silent after Ignis requests an explanation.
> 
> The charm wraps him in a protective aura during battle.
> 
> The group soon clashes with Ardyn again, Zell, Irvine, Squall and Noctis pouncing on him like ravenous, roaring lions ready to kill. Ignis joins and is soon aided by Gladiolus. Rinoa has strangely disappeared but reappears on the brink of their next battle with Edea, in full sorceress form. Going full throttle with her powers kills Rinoa, but she uses the last of her strength to restore Ignis’ sight.
> 
> In a battle against Ultimecia, Noctis is almost thrust into crystal-stasis but is saved by Squall. Squall goes into crystal-stasis instead, switching places with him mid-battle after kissing him. Ultimecia whisks the crystallized Squall away, happy to have ‘captured the soul of a lion’, leaving the group broken not only by Rinoa’s death but by Squall’s sacrifice as well. Ignis soon realizes that the spirit of his Gunblade transferred to his charm, the lion’s spirit asked to protect Ignis by Squall right before he was forced into sleep.
> 
> Not to toot my own horn, but if there’s a scene you would like me to write, even just a little bit, please let me know. Life won’t permit me to write out the rest of the storyline, but if there’s another part of this crossover that would make your day, don’t be shy. Let me know what magic I need to work. I will happily work it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for coming. I’m glad you decided to become a part of this adventure.
> 
> This came in the wake of my Final Fantasy VII crossover. Not tooting my own horn-just came up with an idea to look forward to after work-create XV crossovers with other worlds. Something to give my life purpose beyond clocking in and out. I thought I’d do another retake of Chapter 13 with Final Fantasy VII characters today. One in which Lady Lunafreya survives, and where the damage was only done to everyone else, but that’s just a tiny part of the huge storyline surrounding this.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this. It means a lot to me to know you read it. I hope it added a least a little magic to your day!


End file.
